Chapter 12
Yumi carved in a 39 as the three rounded another rock corner. Aélita looked up to see the tower no closer, the red glow taunting her.
Not for the first time Aélita thought about bringing out her wings and flying through the force field, but the risk of it wiping out all her life points in the attempt prevented her from doing so.
"Wouldn't it be easier if we split up?" Ulrich asked.
"Not if you find it and can't find us," Yumi pointed out as they came to yet another dead end.
"No!" Aélita exclaimed, going to the end of the wall to pound her fist into its hard exterior.
"Aélita?" Ulrich asked, surprised clear in his voice.
"We don't have time for this," Aélita stated, letting her mind reach out to touch the data that made up the world around them. She pushed herself away from the wall and cupped her hands, letting out a familiar note from her lungs. She lowered herself to her knees, careful not to effect the data creating the floor, as she took out the walls between herself and the activated tower. She opened her eyes as she looked up to see a pathway to the tower, though she could feel the life points she used up dwindle herself dangerously low. Ever since the upgrade Jérémie did when they recreated Lyoko, her creation took more out of her. It took her a moment before she could get back up to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Yumi asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
Aélita nodded her head slightly, giving Yumi a half smile. "Come on, Jérémie needs us," she said before leading the charge to the tower. She kept her eyes open for those manta or William as they left the labyrinth. She could make out the proper exit of the maze where the two mantas floated, waiting.
"Figures that's where they went," Ulrich said, pulling out both his swords.
"We'll cover you, get to the tower," Yumi said, flicking out her second fan to be ready.
Aélita nodded her head, pushing the worry for Jérémie down. She was almost at the tower.
The three rushed forward as Ulrich gave a call of, "Hey! Fish face!"
The two mantas turned to look at the three running to the front of the tower. Not for the first time, Aélita wished the platform would rotate to wherever she entered it. She stayed back as her friends rushed forward to distract the two monsters. As soon as they got the mantas looking away from the tower, Aélita took her break. She rushed around the tower to where she knew there would be the proper entrance only to jump back as William's smoke appeared in front of her and the entry way. William appeared out of the smoke, a smile on his face as he held his sword aloft.
Quickly Aélita brushed her hand over her bracelet, activating her wings and flying upwards. "Energy field!" Aélita exclaimed, shooting down two balls of pink energy.
William quickly sliced his sword at the projectiles, dispersing them before they had the chance to hit him.
Instead of planning a way to kill him, Aélita looked for a way around him. She shot down another three balls of energy to take his attention. She never saw his reaction to them, instead she tucked her wings in close and dived down at him. She rounded him, extending her wings to catch the air and slow down, aiming for the entry way, only to feel a strange explosion of electricity in her right shoulder.
William had sliced his sword through her wing.
The realization hit her as Lyoko's gravity took hold. Aélita fell through the entrance and soared over the short walkway. She managed to grab hold of the circular platform as her chest made impact. She cringed, her life points going even farther lower with the landing. She was normally thankful for how lenient Lyoko was with fall damage. At least towers still restored life points, Aélita thought as she pulled herself up onto the platform.
By the time she got to her feet, the lights on the floor had lit, sounding off their chine as they did so. Aélita walked to the center and looked up just as the feeling of weightlessness overcame her. Normally the feeling made her feel better, getting her to be playful and flip in the short time it took to go to the top of the tower. Today though she wasn't feeling it, she just wanted to reach the top. The normally short ride was taking far too long today.
She felt the tug of gravity once more as she passed the platform. She stepped onto the second platform, letting gravity fully take over her body once more and stepped forward as the panel appeared. Placing her hand on the panel, it quickly read who she was. She dropped her hand as she felt the familiar connection to the code within the tower. Her name appeared on the screen before disappearing, giving room for the deactivational code: LYOKO.
Aélita looked around at the lines of code in the wall, waiting for the code to be flushed out. "Tower deactivated," Aélita said, hoping Jérémie would hear her normal words and respond as the code disappeared from sight.
With no reply from Jérémie, Aélita turned back to the floating panel and put in the necessary information to turn back time. "Return to the past, now," Aélita ordered, pushing the last code through to start the process. She closed her eyes, praying Jérémie was alright.
AN: Short chapter this time, don't worry, I've got more really long ones coming up. I seem to have a hard time putting breaks in the story. I still can't believe the original version of this story didn't have a Xana attack. But I also had no idea of how to get them back to Kadic at the time.
